After two decades, Kenner razes eyesore

Donald Stout/The Times-PicayuneA contractor for Kenner City Hall today demolished a vacant houseat 3857 Martinique Ave. that had been the target of neighbors' complaints for years.

Armed with cameras to preserve the moment, a dozen jubilant residents of Kenner's Driftwood Park subdivision watched Wednesday as a backhoe demolished a long-vacant house to end their two-decade battle over the blighted property.

"We've been fighting to get this done all these years, and all of a sudden it's gone in 15 minutes," neighbor Tommy Hutton said as the one-story brick house at 3857 Martinique Ave. was quickly reduced to a pile of rubble.

Vacant since the late 1980s, the house had been gutted to the studs, with no flooring and gaping holes in the roof. After years of issuing citations for building-code violations, Kenner recently won a federal lawsuit upholding the City Council's July 2006 demolition order. In a last-minute bid to stop the razing, property owner Jan Jumonville, an attorney, sought a state court order that 24th District Judge John Molaison denied Tuesday evening.

Next-door neighbor Don Murphy called the house an eyesore that attracted vermin, but he said the demolition was bittersweet.

"In a way it's a shame because it was a nice house at one time," he said. "They had 20 years to fix it up, but they didn't do it. They let it deteriorate until it finally came to this."

Jumonville's husband, Placide Jumonville, who was present photographing the demolition, would not comment.

Neighbors said the Jumonvilles, who own another Driftwood Park house that the city wants to tear down, made sporadic repairs to the Martinique Avenue house over the years. Murphy said the couple replaced the brick driveway two or three times, only to tear it up and start over. He said he once saw Placide Jumonville meticulously sanding the bottom of a brick arch over the top of the chimney while tarpaulins and plastic sheeting covered holes in the roof.

"Who cares what the inside of your chimney looks like when you've basically got no roof?" he said. "It's like he was so obsessed with the tiniest details that he couldn't see that the rest of the house was falling apart."

Jane Moreau snapped photographs of the demolition for the subdivision's newsletter.

"This is definitely front-page news," she said. "After all these years, it's exciting to finally see something being done about this eyesore."

Council members Ben Zahn, whose district includes the subdivision, and Jeannie Black, an-at-large member who formerly held the district seat, expressed relief.

"This shows that we will not tolerate blighted properties," Zahn said. "It may take a while for a blighted house to move through the process, but we will have it torn down eventually."

Code Enforcement Director Keith Chiro estimated the demolition cost at $6,300. He said Kenner will bill the Jumonvilles and, if they don't pay, place a lien on the land.

City officials said they now will focus on the couple's unoccupied house at 50 Granada Drive, which has been under sporadic renovation for more than 15 years. Several windows are broken and birds have nested in some of the rafters. A peek inside shows cement floors and unfinished walls.

City Attorney Keith Conley said he will determine whether the council may pursue a demolition order.
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Paul Rioux can be reached at prioux@timespicayune.com or (504) 467-1726.